the island features thursday 11th march, 2010 5pdfs.island.lk/2010/03/11/p5.pdf · 2010. 3. 12. ·...

FeaturesThe Island Thursday 11th March, 2010 5

One of the few pleasures ofbeing unemployed is theopportunity to read. For the

last couple of years I have notreally had as much time for booksas I would have liked, unlike inthe old days when, as an academ-ic, I could read at length and bequite content that I was merelydoing my duty.

Amongst the books thathad piled up unread inrecent days was a selectionof the letters of GrahamGreene which had beengiven me for Christmas. Heis one of the few novelistsof the latter part of the 20thcentury whom I thought qual-ified to be considered greatthough, given my old fashionedpredilections, he had actuallystarted writing well before theSecond World War, like almost allthose I admire,. However he con-tinued to create and to commentwell into the modern world, and isperhaps the most distinguishedliterary exponent of the Cold Warperiod.

At the same time his writingsare not just political, as are thosefor instance of John le Carre,another writer I much admire butwhom I would not really describeas great. Unlike le Carre, Greeneis always conscious of humandilemmas, and the capacity forerror that complex situations pre-cipitate for us and in us. Thechoices we need to make, bothabout fundamentals, and withregard to ordinary day to day rela-tions, are the subject of his relent-less but also very sympatheticanalysis.

I remember being required,when I joined PeradeniyaUniversity and found that thewriters I had studied were thepreserve of more senior membersof the Department, to teach eitherdifficult earlier figures (Marlowe

and Jonson) or modern writers. Ihad also to construct a course onLiterature and Politics, whichallowed me to introduce books Ihad relished myself, for instanceAngus Wilson's 'Old Men at theZoo', and Greene's 'Human Factor',his analysis of responses toapartheid in South Africa.Though that book was not as emo-tionally vivid as say 'Cry, theBeloved Country', it strikes mestill as a much more adult analy-sis of the compulsions caused bythe horrendous wickednessapartheid represented.

One aspect of Greene's genius

lay in his clearsighted under-standing both of the moralissues involved, and of themanner in which horrorscould be readily accepted.The corrosive aspect of evilwas something he could pres-

ent vividly, indicating how welive with it with only slight dis-

comfort, until it bursts out inunacceptable forms. In theprocess we realize that the choic-es we have made, seeing themsometimes as inevitable, are alsowholly unacceptable.

I suppose that in a sense thiswas always Greene's theme,though in some of the earlierwork it was the social backgroundrather than the political that setthe scene. For me however, givenmy greater concern with overtpolitical subjects, it will be workssuch as 'The Human Factor' and'Our Man in Havana' and 'TheQuiet American', set during thebeginnings of the Vietnam Warthat was so seminal an experiencefor my generation, that will domi-nate in my admiration for Greeneand his moral purpose.

The letters clarify that purposefurther, and recall too elements inthe story of the Cold War that Ihad almost forgotten, but whichare still relevant today. Greenefound himself opposed toAmerica on most issues, but thisdid not prevent him criticizingthe Soviet Union as when forinstance it persecuted writers.The letter he sent a Soviet aca-

demic who wanted to interviewhim set out his perspective clearly-

'I think it is one's friendship forthe Soviet Union that makes onecriticize anything which seems togo against the constitution. Asyou know I am organizing a bigprotest by members of theAmerican Academy of Lettersagainst the Vietnam war, and Iwould feel that I had less right tospeak up on this point if I didn'tspeak up on the smaller case ofSinyavsky…it does not meanthat I have ceased to be on yourside if the world has to choosebetween America and Russia.But I want my side free fromany easy criticisms'.

This type of stand was impor-tant, and underscores the differ-ence between the internal situa-tion in the Soviet Union and thatin the United States. This afterall is why the Cold War was wonso easily. Unfortunately, in themythology that has been builtup, the collapse of the SovietUnion is seen solely as the resultof Reagan's genius, and notenough credit is given to internaldissent, the awareness ofGorbachev that reform was neces-sary, an education system thatensured the support for change allover the Soviet Bloc of an emerg-ing middle class.

That however is another story.What study of Greene makesclear is that Western victory inthe Cold War, desirable though it

might have been, should not blindus to the appalling sufferingimposed on countries seen merelyas instruments in the struggle fordomination. I had forgotten thecycnicism with which, claimingthey were defending democracy,the Americans nurtured Papa DocDuvalier in Haiti, sent in thou-sands of troops in 1965 to ensurethat the Dominican Republicremained under an authoritarianregime, and ensured the destruc-

tion and death of Allende inChile. On all these issues, Greeneis always, without hesitation, onthe side as Gladstone might haveput it of the masses against theclasses.

With regard to the British, thisselection of letters has less that iscritical of them, understandablyso since their influence andauthority was much less duringthe salient period. However whatcomes across is even greater con-

tempt for the merce-nary principles onwhich political deci-sions were made. Hetries to stop a sale ofjets to Batista, while hewas in the last throes ofhis struggle againstCastro, whom Greenemuch admired; andthen, in criticizing poli-cy about Biafra, he

writes of 'these faceless politi-cians whom the people ofEngland have elected to save theirpockets & not their honour'.

Reading these letters made meeven more acutely aware of howone should not assume, simplybecause the British and Americanswith whom we deal are (well, mostof them at least) so charming andso earnest about their moral pur-poses, that they are genuine.Greene shows how commitment tothe interests of their country canlead even the best intentionedastray. We cannot expect to be morethan instruments to them for theirgrander purposes. If sometimesthose purposes are banal as well asevil, as Hannah Arendt might haveput it, that does not make them theless urgent to those unable to appre-ciate another point of view in theiranxiety to make their mark withregard to a country so easy it seemsto bully.

I hope however that after theheat and dust of the electionshave settled, and after even cur-rent efforts to embarrass the gov-ernment are forgotten, whether ornot they lead to a few more votesfor the opposition, the more civi-lized amongst are interlocutorswill reread their Graham Greene.They must if belatedly try tounderstand the importance oftreating all humans, and all insti-tutions, with the dignity that, as agood if thinking Catholic, Greenebelieved we all deserved.

Reading these letters mademe even more acutely aware ofhow one should not assume,simply because the British andAmericans with whom we dealare (well, most of them at least)so charming and so earnestabout their moral purposes,that they are genuine.